The Moḍī Documents from Tanjore in Danish Collections by Elisabeth StrandbergReview by: R. S. McGregorModern Asian Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1987), pp. 194-195Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/312688 .

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association with the national bureaucratic structure, to activate hamlet sodalities and broader popular participation; and coordinating the activities of sodalities. These are sound recommendations. All but the last two could be facilitated by enacting singular decisions. However, the last two would require the long haul of identifying common interests, and of encouraging groups to merge their interests and coordinate their activities, a process which involves a measure of mutual trust as well as trust in any higher authority which is urging this change. Whether that trust can be summoned remains to be seen.

The author draws back from using his survey material to illustrate how the process might be initiated. He also refrains from commenting on the likelihood of success in activating village sodalities in this way. One can reasonably conclude that this likeliho6d is minimal in a district such as Kendal but that there is a good chance of saving a district such as Cibadak from going the same way as Kendal.

The book provides students and practitioners of rural administration with a substantial reference on a part of the Third World where government intervention has been strongly felt. The negative effects are salutary for other countries.

INGRID PALMER

The ModizDocumentsfrom Tanjore in Danish Collections. By ELISABETH STRAND- BERG. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1983, Beitrdge zur Siidasienfors- chung, Siidasien-Institut: Heidelberg, vol. 8I.

Dr Strandberg's study is a well-executed edition of primary historical source material, and a significant contribution to both historical and language studies. In the latter field, it documents clearly and analyses adequately a particular variety of early modern Marathi and throws light on processes of language mixture and lexical borrowing as these have operated in a little-known Indian field. The work is very carefully and systematically planned. The opening chapters give an informative account of the material, its known history and whereabouts; of comparable material in other collections; of the broad historical context, viz. the history of the Tranquebar colony and its relations with Tanjore; of the use in Marathi at Tanjore in high-level correspondence with the Danish colony, and of Tamil otherwise; and of the more detailed circumstances of composition of the letters as these varied throughout the period which the letters cover. There is an admirably clear exposition of the ModT script, a cursive form of Marathi Balabodha used up until the twentieth century for everyday and business purposes, with a detailed account of the history of use of the script and a discussion of the reasons for its eventual replacement by Balabodha. The six calendar systems used in the documents are described and the manner of their use analysed in detail. Finally there is a brief discussion of the use of Marathi in Tanjore with an account of some of the leading scholarly work on Marathi. The main topic taken up here is that of language mixture and bilingualism as between Marathi and Dravidian. In this section syntactical approximation is distinguished carefully from lexical, and some particular forms and usages are discussed.

association with the national bureaucratic structure, to activate hamlet sodalities and broader popular participation; and coordinating the activities of sodalities. These are sound recommendations. All but the last two could be facilitated by enacting singular decisions. However, the last two would require the long haul of identifying common interests, and of encouraging groups to merge their interests and coordinate their activities, a process which involves a measure of mutual trust as well as trust in any higher authority which is urging this change. Whether that trust can be summoned remains to be seen.

The author draws back from using his survey material to illustrate how the process might be initiated. He also refrains from commenting on the likelihood of success in activating village sodalities in this way. One can reasonably conclude that this likeliho6d is minimal in a district such as Kendal but that there is a good chance of saving a district such as Cibadak from going the same way as Kendal.

The book provides students and practitioners of rural administration with a substantial reference on a part of the Third World where government intervention has been strongly felt. The negative effects are salutary for other countries.

INGRID PALMER

The ModizDocumentsfrom Tanjore in Danish Collections. By ELISABETH STRAND- BERG. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1983, Beitrdge zur Siidasienfors- chung, Siidasien-Institut: Heidelberg, vol. 8I.

Dr Strandberg's study is a well-executed edition of primary historical source material, and a significant contribution to both historical and language studies. In the latter field, it documents clearly and analyses adequately a particular variety of early modern Marathi and throws light on processes of language mixture and lexical borrowing as these have operated in a little-known Indian field. The work is very carefully and systematically planned. The opening chapters give an informative account of the material, its known history and whereabouts; of comparable material in other collections; of the broad historical context, viz. the history of the Tranquebar colony and its relations with Tanjore; of the use in Marathi at Tanjore in high-level correspondence with the Danish colony, and of Tamil otherwise; and of the more detailed circumstances of composition of the letters as these varied throughout the period which the letters cover. There is an admirably clear exposition of the ModT script, a cursive form of Marathi Balabodha used up until the twentieth century for everyday and business purposes, with a detailed account of the history of use of the script and a discussion of the reasons for its eventual replacement by Balabodha. The six calendar systems used in the documents are described and the manner of their use analysed in detail. Finally there is a brief discussion of the use of Marathi in Tanjore with an account of some of the leading scholarly work on Marathi. The main topic taken up here is that of language mixture and bilingualism as between Marathi and Dravidian. In this section syntactical approximation is distinguished carefully from lexical, and some particular forms and usages are discussed.

I94 I94 REVIEWS REVIEWS

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In the chapters on the language of the documents interesting and generally convincing conclusions are drawn as to changes in the lexical usage of Tanjore Marathi in respect oftatsama and tadbhaya words, and also in respect of the use of Arabic and Persian as compared to Marathi and English words. The discussion of these topics is based in part on an analysis of variants of the formal terms of address found in the letters. It is a strength of Dr Strandberg's work that she always endeavours (usually very successfully) to interpret the significance of the data she arrives at: whether linguistically in a more narrow sense, or in terms of its historical context. There is a careful analysis (pp. 74ff) of the phonological significance of some spellings. The grammatical analysis of Tanjore forms throws a meaningful light on one topic, in particular, of general Marathi grammar, viz. the forms of absolutives (pp. 59f). In treating uncertain matters Dr Strandberg generally shows care and judgement (e.g. in disposing of counter-considerations to an argument; or in noting and seeking to explain omissions from the Tanjore grammatical repertoire and the incidence of variant grammatical forms (pp. 55ff).

A late, second phase of lexical borrowing into Tanjore Marathi from Arabic and Persian is posited (pp. 67ff), but the motivation for Arabic and Persian borrowing as late as c. i8oo, following the apparent Indianization of the language of the documents, is felt with good reason to be unclear. The appearance at this time of such previously unattested forms as philahala 'now', mophasala 'in detail' and daphe 'time' is probably to be explained by their currency in these senses in Urdu, rather than by any renewed Persian influence on the language of the documents. The word dusta, which is apparently specific to the Marathi of Tanjore, should almost certainly be explained as 'suit of clothes' (not 'present of clothes'): cf. the Persian usage ofdast as a classifier with numerals before words referring to clothing, and also the Persian lexical context ofdusta in the text. The Arabic spelling corresponding to tagi.da (p. 72) is taqa&^, not takijha.

The documents are presented with great care in facsimile and transliteration, together with serviceable translations, notes and indices.

Cambridge University R. S. McGREGOR

Three Elegies of Ch'u: An Introduction to the Traditional Interpretation of the Ch'u Tz'u. By GEOFFREY R. WATERS. The University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin, I985. Pp. xvi, 229.

Seldom does one encounter so obvious a target for a hostile reception as this book-not least because the author reveals (p. xiii) that he is currently a banker, and so presumably well cushioned against any financial consequences, however savagely he may be reviewed. What is at issue here is the interpretation of three pieces from the 'Nine Songs', a sequence within the Songs of Ch'u (Ch'u Tz'u), a body of poetry for the most part over two millennia old. Hardly a very stirring issue, one might think, except that, as studies such as Madman of Ch'u (California University Press, I980) by Laurence A. Schneider show (though in fact Schneider's survey is inexplicably passed over in Waters' work), this particular corpus of poetry has ever since exerted and even continues to exert a

In the chapters on the language of the documents interesting and generally convincing conclusions are drawn as to changes in the lexical usage of Tanjore Marathi in respect oftatsama and tadbhaya words, and also in respect of the use of Arabic and Persian as compared to Marathi and English words. The discussion of these topics is based in part on an analysis of variants of the formal terms of address found in the letters. It is a strength of Dr Strandberg's work that she always endeavours (usually very successfully) to interpret the significance of the data she arrives at: whether linguistically in a more narrow sense, or in terms of its historical context. There is a careful analysis (pp. 74ff) of the phonological significance of some spellings. The grammatical analysis of Tanjore forms throws a meaningful light on one topic, in particular, of general Marathi grammar, viz. the forms of absolutives (pp. 59f). In treating uncertain matters Dr Strandberg generally shows care and judgement (e.g. in disposing of counter-considerations to an argument; or in noting and seeking to explain omissions from the Tanjore grammatical repertoire and the incidence of variant grammatical forms (pp. 55ff).

A late, second phase of lexical borrowing into Tanjore Marathi from Arabic and Persian is posited (pp. 67ff), but the motivation for Arabic and Persian borrowing as late as c. i8oo, following the apparent Indianization of the language of the documents, is felt with good reason to be unclear. The appearance at this time of such previously unattested forms as philahala 'now', mophasala 'in detail' and daphe 'time' is probably to be explained by their currency in these senses in Urdu, rather than by any renewed Persian influence on the language of the documents. The word dusta, which is apparently specific to the Marathi of Tanjore, should almost certainly be explained as 'suit of clothes' (not 'present of clothes'): cf. the Persian usage ofdast as a classifier with numerals before words referring to clothing, and also the Persian lexical context ofdusta in the text. The Arabic spelling corresponding to tagi.da (p. 72) is taqa&^, not takijha.

The documents are presented with great care in facsimile and transliteration, together with serviceable translations, notes and indices.

Cambridge University R. S. McGREGOR

Three Elegies of Ch'u: An Introduction to the Traditional Interpretation of the Ch'u Tz'u. By GEOFFREY R. WATERS. The University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin, I985. Pp. xvi, 229.

Seldom does one encounter so obvious a target for a hostile reception as this book-not least because the author reveals (p. xiii) that he is currently a banker, and so presumably well cushioned against any financial consequences, however savagely he may be reviewed. What is at issue here is the interpretation of three pieces from the 'Nine Songs', a sequence within the Songs of Ch'u (Ch'u Tz'u), a body of poetry for the most part over two millennia old. Hardly a very stirring issue, one might think, except that, as studies such as Madman of Ch'u (California University Press, I980) by Laurence A. Schneider show (though in fact Schneider's survey is inexplicably passed over in Waters' work), this particular corpus of poetry has ever since exerted and even continues to exert a

REVIEWS REVIEWS I95 I95

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